


in other words (i love you)

by glitter_ghostie



Series: finnpoe week 2017 [4]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Stormpilotweek, With A Twist, because letting a glorified freckle dictate who you love is a terrible way to live your life, stormpilotweek2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-05
Updated: 2017-07-05
Packaged: 2018-11-28 06:18:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11412018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glitter_ghostie/pseuds/glitter_ghostie
Summary: A soulmate AU with a twist, because a fancy birthmark (or lack thereof) is a stupid way of leading your life, anyway





	in other words (i love you)

**Author's Note:**

> fuck the rules amirite

Finn was late to lunch. Now, the reason for this was because he’d been pacing the hallway outside the mess hall for the past ten minutes, and the longer he waited, the more freaked out he got.

He couldn’t do this anymore, he thought, chewing on a hangnail, and then he turned and paced in the other direction. 

But telling Poe could ruin everything.

He knew, of course, that Poe was too kind, too close to Finn, to let him down harshly. He’d probably just say “I’m sorry,” and “I don’t feel the same way.” Or, in Finn’s mind, the worst case scenario: “But where’s your soul mark?”

The hand that wasn’t being chewed in Finn’s anxiety brushed the small, circular scar below his ribs. He could remember a mark being there, but what it _was_ was just beyond his minds reach, too fuzzy and too many years and reconditionings away.

“’Scuse me,” a voice said, tone brash and loud, and Finn jumped out of the way as a being shuffled past, wheeling boxes of supplies down the tight hallway. Finn stood, hands on his hips, and then his feet were propelling him towards the door, his footfalls flat and heavy as if driven by some other power rather than his own mind.

He pushed the door open, and as expected Poe was sat at their usual table, surrounded by their friends.

Finn nearly faltered and rushed back out of the mess hall, but his feet kept on carrying him forwards, his heart racing. Poe noticed him just before Finn reached the table, and his face lit up like one of the universe’s many, bright suns.

“Finn! I was beginning to worry about you.”

“Hey, Poe,” Finn’s face felt like it was on fire. “Hey, everyone.”

Jess gave him a knowing grin, and Karé shook her head, giving Jess’s shoulder a light knock. Karé’s vest revealed the dark brown crescent moon on her arm – her soul mark, identical to the one at the nape of Jess’s neck.

He didn’t have time to feel envy before he said “can I speak to you, Poe?”

A moment, and then:

“Alone?”

His voice sounded weak to his own ears, and he could see the way Poe’s eyes softened with concern.

“Sure, buddy,” Poe stood, and Finn was already walking out the mess hall and down the hallways he knew would lead him to outside the base. 

It was evening, and their new planet’s three moons were just beginning to appear, their pastel pink faces looking down on him. He stared back up at them, his feet still carrying him across the hangar and out to where the trees began, tall and with their impossibly smooth bark.

Finn thought they looked majestic. Rey had said they looked bad for climbing.

His feet finally stopped once he stood amongst the trees, and he heard Poe’s footsteps quickly approaching. 

“Hey, Finn,” Poe’s hand came to rest on his shoulder. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah,” Finn said.

And then, “no.”

“What’s the matter, then?” Poe was beside him now, trying to get Finn to look at him. “C’mon, buddy, lemme see if I can help you here.”

“I like you.”

The silence was agonising. Finn couldn’t meet Poe’s eyes at first, instead staring at the smooth, black bark of the tree a metre or so ahead of him. Finally, he met Poe’s wide eyes.

“Please, just say something.”

“Oh,” Poe blinked, “do you mean, like… _like_ like me?”

“Yes, Poe, I _like_ like you.” Finn wanted to run into the woods and never look back, he wanted to bury his head into the hard ground, he wanted to kiss Poe.

“I like like you, too.”

Finn almost didn’t believe it at first. He stood, stock still, his jaw going slack and staying there, as he and Poe stared at each other.

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh,” Poe grinned then, but Finn didn’t smile back.

“Is that – is that bad?”

“I don’t know.”

Poe frowned, and Finn sighed – might as well get it over and done with.

“I don’t. I don’t have.”

The words were stuck in his throat, like a fist was closing around his neck and squeezing until all that could be heard was ragged breathing.

“Finn – ”

“My soul mark. I don’t have one.”

Poe’s face flicked through a range of emotions in the span of a second – confusion, realisation, and then something Finn took a moment to place.

Defiance.

“Fuck the soul marks.”

“ _What?_ ”

“I don’t know what the Order did to you, and you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want, but not having a mark on your skin doesn’t change how I feel about you, whether it matched mine or not.”

Finn’s lip trembled. It was too good, too wonderfully good to be true. But still, he hoped he wasn’t dreaming.

“Finn, I like you – hell, maybe I love you – for who you are: the brave, kind man who risked everything to help a man he’d never met, who ran straight into the face of danger to save the people he cares about. That means more to me than any mark. Maybe we’re not soulmates, maybe no one is, but I know that with you, I want to try.”

Finn wiped at his eyes, meeting Poe’s gaze, and says in a watery voice “I’d kiss you, but I’m crying.”

“I can live with that.”

Finn laughed, and then he took Poe’s face in his hands and kissed him. They parted after a moment, Poe’s dark eyes close to his, and they looked as happy as Finn felt, so then Finn kissed him again, and again, and again.


End file.
